KFC Uerdingen 05, or Krefelder Fußballclub Uerdingen 05 e.V., to give them their full title, is a football club in the district of Uerdingen in the 'velvet and silk' city of Krefeld in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was formed on the 17th November 1905 as Fußball-Club Uerdingen 05.
In peacetime, they continued their alliance as Spielvereinigung Uerdingen 05 until February 1948, when VfB became an independent club once more. In 1950, SpVgg returned to its original name of FC Uerdingen 05. 1953 saw another merger with Werkssportgruppe Bayer AG Uerdingen, the works team of the chemical giants Bayer AG, taking the name FC Bayer 05 Uerdingen.
Uerdingen finished as runners-up of the Nord division at the first attempt to go up to the top flight after hammering FK Pirmasens in the play-offs under coach Klaus Quinkert. The climb proved too steep as Bayer dropped back down just twelve months later, before a runners-up spot in 1978-79 saw Uerdingen promoted once again.
This was with Siegfried Melzig as trainer, as Wolfgang Lüttges scored with regularity. Their spell in the Bundesliga lasted two seasons before a return to the now one division second tier. Werner Biskup led his side to the play-offs in 1982-83, where Horst Feilzer caused damage to FC Schalke 04 as Bayer were promoted after a 4-2 aggregate win.
The following season saw the club in European Cup Winners' Cup action, with the quarter-final seeing one of the most dramatic games in UEFA history. By half-time in the second leg at the Grotenburg-Stadion, Uerdingen were 5-1 down on aggregate to Dynamo Dresden. The final forty-five minutes saw the home side hammer in six unanswered goals to win the tie 7-5 over the two games.
They went on to lose to Atletico Madrid in the semi-final. Click here to see the dramatic Dynamo second leg. Following these successes, the Grotenburg was given further refurbishments, and all seemed well. Bayer built, finishing sixth in 1986-87 before the appointment of new coach Rolf Schafstall, as Stefan Kuntz provided the goals for the team.
Gradually, the teams' finishing places were slipping down the table before Bayer went down in 1990-91. Friedhelm Funkel led the team to the 1991-92 2. Bundesliga Nord title with Bernd Dreher, Stephan Paßlack, Thomas Adler and Andreas Sassen among the sides’ mainstays.
Not for the first time, Uerdingen only lasted one season in the Bundesliga before bouncing back as second-level runners-up at the first attempt. In 1995 when Bayer withdrew their funding. The club started their 1995-96 Bundesliga campaign as Krefelder Fußball-Club Uerdingen 05 in the Bundesliga, which ended in relegation.
This was despite the goals of Erik Meijer. Hans-Ulrich Thomale took over as coach before being replaced by Jürgen Gelsdorf. Henk ten Cate was at the helm when KFC were relegated in 1998-99 as the club dropped down to Regionalliga Nord. Worse was to follow in 2003 as the DFB refused the club a license to compete at that level owing to financial problems.
Instead, KFC Uerdingen were placed in Oberliga Nordrhein. The German leagues were restructured for the 2008-09 season with the introduction of 3. Liga. Uerdingen hoped for a place in the fourth-tier Regionalliga under the stewardship of veteran coach and Fortuna Düsseldorf legend Aleksandar Ristić for a short spell.
However, the club were placed in the Verbandsliga. In 2010-11, Uerdingen won their first promotion in seventeen years as they lifted the Verbandsliga title and a place in the NRW-Liga under head coach Peter Wongrowitz. The league was disbanded, so KFC were placed in the fifth-tier Oberliga Niederrhein.
The club tried to raise finances with some innovative ideas to assist in their push back up the leagues, including a friendly with Bayern München, which drew a crowd of 30,000 for a friendly. Uerdingen played in the Oberliga Niederrhein in the 2012-13 season and went on to win the title, gaining promotion back to the Regionalliga.
However, the joy wasn't to last too long as Uerdingen finished in fifteenth position in the 2014-15 season and were relegated once again. The goals of Danny Rankl in 2015-16 saw the side finish runners-up as coach Michael Boris was replaced by Jörn Großkopf towards the season's end, who in turn was soon succeeded by André Pawlak as the Oberliga Niederrhein title was lifted in 2016-17.
Michael Wiesinger and then Stefan Krämer oversaw the Regionalliga West championship triumph of 2017-18 with Lucas Musculus topping the scoring chart. SV Waldhof Mannheim were defeated 3-0 on aggregate in the play-offs as Uerdingen returned to the third level of German football.
The promotion was a slight problem as Grotenburg-Stadion was deemed unfit. The club used MSV Duisburg’s Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena for home matches as they finished in mid-table with Maximilian Beister leading the scoring in a season which saw Norbert Meier take over as coach for a short spell.
Uerdingen moved into Merkur Spiel-Arena in Düsseldorf to share with Fortuna in 2019-20, with the side sitting comfortably in the Coronavirus-disrupted campaign, which also saw several changes of coach with Heiko Vogel, Daniel Steuernagel, and a returning Krämer taking charge of the team.
Good news emerged from the local Krefeld mayor, who announced that the club should be able to return to an upgraded Grotenburg-Stadion for the 2020-21 season. Despite this, the side played again in Düsseldorf and at Stadion am Lotter Kreuz in Lotte. The season saw the team finish above the drop zone, but they were relegated as the club filed for insolvency.
Dmitry Voronov arrived as trainer for the 2022-23 season in the fifth-tier Oberliga Niederrhein, where Pascal Weber led the scoring on Uerdingen's return to Grotenburg-Stadion. Third place was achieved twelve months later for the side trained by Johannes Dahms, for whom Dimitrios Touratzidis scored the goals which saw the side promoted to Regionalliga West.
The team's following season was terminated when a new bankruptcy filing was submitted in January 2025. The club announced they were appealing and taking legal action. Julian Stöhr was named trainer as Uerdingen took up its place in Oberliga Niederrhein.
KFC Uerdingen 05 will play in Oberliga Niederrhein in the 2025-26 season.
Saturday 27th October 2012
I awoke in my Düsseldorf hotel on a beautiful, bright late autumn morning after a really good first day in Germany, in my search for new stadiums and football. The previous night's 3-3 draw in Cologne, followed by a really good drink in Düsseldorf's Aldstadt, had put me in a really good mood, as well as helping me to a much-needed deep sleep.
After a quick train from my adjacent station to Düsseldorf's Hauptbahnhof, I was soon on a train via Neuss, which would stop at the Krefeld-Oppum station. After a twenty-minute ride, I was out in the cool air and taking a ten-minute brisk walk up Buddestrasse past the tram stop and pretty Schonwasserpark and into the busy main Berliner Strasse. This took me past the zoo and to the stadium.
The North Stand was a large covered single-tiered block of seats. Opposite was the South Strand, which backed onto the training ground, with a seating tier behind a large terraced paddock. The West Terrace was a huge open end up to the pitch with a scoreboard at the rear.
I wandered along the back of the South Stand, where a drinks kiosk was open for spectators watching the youngsters going through their drills. Everyone seemed friendly, with a few "allo's" and smiles being exchanged.
I gained access to the West Terrace, which was showing signs of not being used for some time. The stadium car park was being used for a car boot stall come flea market, so I had a look at the stalls to see if anything took my interest before heading back to the station.
Having a few minutes to kill, I took the opportunity to pop into a local bakery, where the friendly staff spoke perfect English on seeing me struggle with my pidgin German. The large Danish pastry and strong coffee were most welcoming.
At this point, I made a decision after a bit of thought and took a train to Krefeld, where I hoped to get a fast train towards Duisburg in the hope that time would be kind enough to allow me the opportunity of visiting the Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena. The trains were fine as I'd planned, but the stadium was too far from the station. I couldn't really complain.
I'd visited a lovely city, albeit briefly and seen a tremendous traditional stadium with youths playing the game. I knew for certain that one day in the future that I wanted to attend a KFC Uerdingen 05, preferably with the club doing well.